It is conventional to support a dock above the surface of a body of water by means of pilings which have their lower ends embedded in the bottom of the body of water and their upper ends secured to the dock. In those geographic regions where ice forms on the surface of the water the ice adheres to the pilings with the result that, as the ice rises and falls, the pilings are moved vertically relative to the bottom thereby weakening or destroying the support for the dock. It is not uncommon, therefore, for dock owners to remove their docks from the water prior to the water's freezing and return the docks to the water when the likelihood of further freezing no longer is present. The removal and replacement of such docks is a laborious, time consuming, and often expensive undertaking.
The undesirable effects of icebound dock movements have been recognized heretofore and numerous proposals have been advanced in an effort to overcome or minimize such problems. Not all of the proposed solutions have been satisfactory for a variety of reasons.
An object of the present invention is to provide dock supporting apparatus which is capable of overcoming the effects of vertical movements due to the presence of ice on the surface of a body of water.